Troubled Mafia 3 Development Has Been Transferred To A New 2K Studio

Mafia 2 was a solid open world title from 2K Czech. It utilized the GTA formula and wrapped life as a gangster around the proven infrastructure. It’s been almost three years since Mafia 2 launched and rumor has it that work on Mafia 3 has been transferred away from 2K Czech and development is “starting from scratch” at the newly opened 2K San Francisco. This information was pulled from industry insider @supererogatory,

TL;DR version: New team at 2K San Francisco probably working on Mafia 3. Game may be starting from scratch.

The person claimed that Rod Fergusson’s new 2K studio was working on Mafia 3, and the studio contained a number of ex-Marin folks.

And all of the leads on Mafia joined last spring, prior to the Sept. announcement of Rod joining the studio, so there’s that.

2K SF is headed by Rod Fergusson and comprised of many former 2K Marin studio members. Also, many of the prominent members of 2K Czech who worked on Mafia 2, have already transferred to 2K SF. Most of them joined 2K SF in Spring/Summer 2013.

Reports also persist that Mafia 3 was slated as an Xbox One/PS4 launch title. However, after layoffs hit 2K Czech back in 2011, it’s understood that the studio wasn’t able to fully recover and deliver the game on schedule.

All signs point to senior/lead staff from Mafia 2 reprising their work on Mafia 3 at 2K San Francisco. If the title was stripped down and started anew, that would indicate whatever 2K Czech had been working on all this time simply wasn’t up to par.

We’ll update this story if we receive more information or confirmation on these suspicions.

Dylan splits time between games journalism, designing video games, and playing them. Outside of his deep involvement in the games industry, he enjoys It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Shameless, A Song of Ice and Fire, fitness, and family.